A method for dynamically regulating the power consumption of a high-speed
integrated circuit which includes a multiplicity of processing blocks. A
first metric and a second metric, which are respectively related to a
first performance parameter and a second performance parameter of the
integrated circuit, are defined. The first metric is set at a pre-defined
value. Selected blocks of the multiplicity of processing blocks are
disabled in accordance with a set of pre-determined patterns. The second
metric is evaluated, while the disabling operation is being performed, to
generate a range of values of the second metric. Each of the values
corresponds to the pre-defined value of the first metric. A most
desirable value of the second metric is determined from the range of
values and is matched to a corresponding pre-determined pattern. The
integrated circuit is subsequently operated with selected processing
blocks disabled in accordance with the matching pre-determined pattern.